Rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations increase the plant demand for soil nutrients, which in turn can impose a nitrogen limitation on unmanaged ecosystems. The microbial responses to CO2 enrichment are complex and difficult to predict. Some studies suggest that CO2 enrichment increases microbial mineralization of nitrogen, making nitrogen more available through a carbon priming effect. Alternatively, microbes may contribute to nitrogen limitation through accelerated soil nitrogen losses. In this study, we examined the effects of CO2 enrichment on trace gases that are released or taken up during soil microbial reactions: nitrification, denitrification and methane consumption. Ambient and approximately twice-ambient CO2 treatments were applied to a coastal scrub oak community at Kennedy Space Center, FL, via open-top chambers since May 1996. The CO2 treatments ended in July 2007 before an aboveground harvest took place inside the chambers. Nitrous oxide (N2O), nitric oxide (NO) and methane (CH4) fluxes were measured in the field from 2006-2008.
Results/Conclusions
Soil N2O losses from the study site were low (< 1 ng N2O-N cm-2 h-1) with no CO2 treatment effect. Soil NO losses were similarly low (< 1 ng N2O-N cm-2 h-1), but fluxes were consistently lower in elevated CO2 than in ambient CO2. NO production was higher for 3 months post-harvest in ambient CO2. Methane consumption was lower in elevated vs. ambient CO2 in 2006, although this trend was not significant. Over a decade of CO2 enrichment has reduced soil nitrogen availability, which could explain the low overall rates of nitrogen trace gas emission. Reduced soil carbon stores in elevated CO2 measured at this site could also explain the lower nitrification rates, measured as NO efflux. Trace gas emissions in this sandy, nutrient-poor scrub oak forest are comparable to published rates in desert ecosystems.